AUGUSTINIAN THEODICY AND POLITICAL EVIL: A PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS OF NIGERIA’S SOCIO-POLITICAL CRISIS
Authors: Barnabas E. Izegede & Judemary Ikechukwu Anyigor
Publication Details
Published: July 28, 2026
Reference: Volume 9, Issue 2
Abstract
The Nigeria’s socio-political crisis has become over time a concern among African socio-political thinkers worried over the prevalent evil called politicking in her democracy, especially from their understanding of the problem of evil in Augustine. Part of the worry is the question; whether God is permissive of the evil, moral abuses, injustices and others despotic tendencies in the Nigeria’s sociopolitical crisis being a good and all-knowing God. These concerns, reflects the cry of the average poor Nigerian who is left to continually wonder about the fate of a country said to the most populous race in Africa. According to Saint Augustine's free-will theodicy, moral evil is as a result of the abuse of free- will and the problem of evil remains a hindrance to justifying the belief in an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent God. This paper, adopting a philosophical analysis method, will concern itself with the possibilities of curbing moral evil in the exercise of free will among Nigerian politicians. Harnessing the Augustinian theodicy in the context of the tragedies of the Nigerian state, this work attempts to argue for a morally and politically conscious state in the use of freewill. It will also query the nation's suffering as a consequence of the abuse of human free will and moral evil, and not as a direct creation of God. In its conclusions, this framework places responsibility and moral sincerity as the sine-qua-non to correct the prevalent issues of corruption, violence, wickedness, mistrust and social injustice ravaging our human actions and their collective fallen nature, while also offering a path to redemption through moral political correctness in godliness.
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How to Cite
Barnabas E. Izegede & Judemary Ikechukwu Anyigor. (2026). AUGUSTINIAN THEODICY AND POLITICAL EVIL: A PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS OF NIGERIA’S SOCIO-POLITICAL CRISIS. ABIA JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES , Volume 9 (2) .